Royals

NEW PHOTOS: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle caught on an unlikely double date with this royal couple

The royals made the most of a rare kid-free night out.
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It looked like the royal double date of the decade when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted out for dinner with Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on the weekend.

Newly unearthed photos showed the foursome enjoying dinner and lively conversation at an exclusive restaurant in Santa Barbara, near the Sussexes’ US home.

In the shots, which appear to have been taken from outside the restaurant, Harry and Meghan can be seen laughing and smiling as they shared an evening with the Harry’s cousin and her husband.

Select images show Meghan laughing as Jack gestures animatedly, while another shot caught Harry listening closely as Eugenie shared a tale.

The couples’ children were nowhere in sight, suggesting the four royals were making the most of a rare kid-free night out.

Harry and Meghan’s two young children, Archie, two, and Lilibet, eight months, were likely left at their California home for the evening, where Meghan’s mother Doria is believed to regularly babysit.

Meanwhile Eugenie and Jack’s son August, who recently turned one, may have been there with his first cousins, or possibly back home in the UK in the care of nannies.

At the time it was thought that Jack had stayed home in the UK with August, but this latest outing shows he’s in town too, and August may be stateside as well.

Both the Sussexes and Eugenie and Jack have chosen to maintain a strict rule of privacy when it comes to their children, rarely releasing photos or details about their little ones.

It’s not the only similarities the two couples share either; both wed in 2018 at the same venue, St George’s Chapel in Windsor, and both couples now hold more minor royal roles.

In fact, this is one of the first times the Sussexes have been photographed with other members of the royal family since they stepped back in 2020.

It’s the very first time for Meghan, who was unable to travel to the UK with Harry for his brief trips home in April and July of 2021.

Meanwhile, Harry was spotted at the Super Bowl with Eugenie last week, surprising other attendees and royal watchers as no one had even known Eugenie was in the US.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before they left their positions as senior royals.

(Image: Getty)

Eugenie and Jack’s visit to the US isn’t too unsurprising as the two couples have been close for years.

Meghan revealed during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last year that the duo were actually some of the first royals to know about her and Harry’s romance in the early days of their relationship.

WATCH: Meghan spills on her secret Halloween date with Harry. Story continues after video.

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During the interview the Duchess of Sussex recalled a Halloween party she attended in Toronto with Harry, his cousin and her then-boyfriend Jack.

“[Harry’s] cousin Eugenie and now her husband Jack, they came as well, and the four of us snuck out in Halloween costumes, just to have one fun night on the town before it was out in the world that we were a couple,” she told Ellen.

“It was a post-apocalyptic theme, so we had all this bizarre costuming on, and we were able to just sort of have one final, fun night out.”

It seems that even now, years after that wild night out, the two couples are as close as ever.

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